30 May 2013

I had only one destination in mind while in Paris (leaving the rest entirely up to Alice);

Atelier Brancusi. This is all his stuff, just as it was in his studio- but moved into a reconstructed museum-space. Apart from the weirdness of that (the objects are in their original-ish context, but not wholly so; its kind-of clinical, and all behind glass. What would have been walls, are here replaced by glass- surely creating a weird perspective, not anticipated by Brancusi himself...) it is a really rich collection, and I got pretty carried away and took a hundred photos.

Here the simple forms are bunched together- its very intense! And one sees all the tools as sculptural forms too. Its what you dream of in a studio. I was especially interested in the anvil. And the forge, and the plinths, and the... everything...

Brancusi stuff is not always just simple shiny forms- tho', I suppose the famous works are- and with that there are ideas of erasure of hand-gesture, symmetry, 'perfection'. But here are some rough-hewn works too; versions of The Kiss and Sleeping Head that may seem unfinished, but I reckon he just left like that- because the feeling of it, just dawning out of the stone, is enough. I had never seen this Kiss before so that was a real treat.

The architecture of the space is great too, I loved the simple fire-place with sculptural+clever heat-diffusing flue. (left, bit cropped out

There's a turquoise gleam right in the middle of this picture, in the shadows...

That Jug.
That Verticality of Files and Rasps.Rasp In Space
But, there was no dust.